TikTok is about to go down — for now.
The favored video-sharing app, utilized by 170 million People, was set to go darkish late Saturday after TikTok’s Chinese language-owned guardian firm introduced late Saturday that they may make their companies “temporarily unavailable.”
The app was nonetheless not down as of simply after 9 p.m.
The app’s future now rests within the arms of President-elect Donald Trump, who returns to the White Home on Monday and has vowed to “save” the app, which he has credited with serving to him win in November.
Trump advised NBC Information on Saturday that he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day extension to work out a deal.
“We have to look at it carefully,” Trump mentioned. “It’s a very big situation.”
TikTok’s shutdown was broadly anticipated after the Supreme Court docket upheld Congress’s regulation that required ByteDance to divest its stake within the firm by Jan. 19 or face a nationwide ban.
TikTok unsuccessfully argued that the regulation was unconstitutional.
The multitude of customers, a lot of them kids, seeking to get their repair of dance movies and cooking hacks early Sunday morning had been as a substitute redirected to an internet site with particulars concerning the ban.
TikTok’s obvious demise capped a months-long saga that started after Congress moved with bipartisan assist to ban the app over nationwide safety issues. TikTok and ByteDance insisted proper as much as the deadline that the app was not on the market, and Chinese language officers vowed to dam any pressured divestiture.
The regulation requires Google and Apple to cease permitting new downloads of TikTok by their app shops or face a advantageous of $5,000 per customers. Oracle, which gives cloud computing assist for TikTok, might additionally face legal responsibility.
Technically, TikTok might have remained in operation for a short while for many who had already downloaded it – however it could have gone with out software program updates or assist and step by step degraded in service.
In one among Biden’s remaining acts final week, he determined to punt on a call to implement the regulation that he signed — leaving it as much as Trump.
TikTok claimed it had no alternative however to close down as a result of “the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability” that they might not face penalties.
White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre known as TikTok’s plan to go offline a “stunt.”
In the meantime, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew profusely thanked the incoming president whereas hinting {that a} potential resolution was within the works in a video launched shortly after the Supreme Court docket’s ruling on Friday.
“We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform — one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process,” Chew mentioned.
Chew ended the video by saying, “More to come.”
Trump additionally signaled that he would have extra to say about TikTik’s future within the coming days.
“The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,” Trump wrote in a Fact Social submit on Friday. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”
Trump is reportedly contemplating implementing an govt order that may delay enforcement of the regulation. Nonetheless, it’s unclear if he has the authorized standing to take action.
Chew is slated to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday and will likely be seated on the dais alongside different tech titans resembling Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook dinner and Google boss Sundar Pichai.
The TikTok CEO has tried to cozy as much as Trump in current weeks because the divestment deadline approached. He additionally met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida following his election win.
The Justice Division and US lawmakers say the app is a spying and propaganda device for the Chinese language Communist Get together – able to mass surveillance and knowledge assortment in addition to swaying public opinion for nefarious functions.
TikTok has vehemently denied the allegations.
On Friday, the Supreme Court docket unanimously sided with the feds.
“Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” the justices mentioned.
As The Put up reported, the TikTok ban saga additionally has implications for different tech firms, resembling Amazon and Microsoft, which have enterprise ties with ByteDance.
